ROYAL Bank of Scotland is set to face claims of more than £1billion from some of the UK’s biggest investors which believe they were misled over a massive cash call by the lender in 2008.

Life and pensions giant Legal & General, which was the biggest investor in RBS at the time of the £12billion rights issue launched just before the bank imploded, is expected to file a claim at the High Court in London on Wednesday.

It will be joined by Standard Life, Prudential’s M&G Investment Management operation, Aviva and Universities Superannuation Scheme.

They have all appointed law firm Quinn Emanuel. RBS is already being sued by the Royal Bank of Scotland Shareholders Action Group which includes thousands of small investors.

The big institutions have been considering their position for several months but need to lodge their claims by Wednesday’s deadline under a statute of limitations.

The case could take years to resolve.

We believe we have strong defences to the claims that are being brought against the group

Royal Bank of Scotland

Former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin asked shareholders to stump up £12billion in May 2008 to bolster the bank’s capital position after it bought parts of ABN Amro and lost billions on US credit market assets.

RBS said it would defend the claims, adding: “While RBS and its former directors made some business decisions that have been criticised, this does not mean that they misled investors or acted illegally.

“We believe we have strong defences to the claims that are being brought against the group and that is why we intend to defend these vigorously and to protect the interests of our shareholders including UK taxpayers.”

RBS, now led by chief executive Ross McEwan, also warned that a Government decision to block it paying bonuses worth twice salaries could threaten its recovery.

It said: “This outcome creates a commercial and prudential risk which it must try to mitigate.”